Trump blasts Bannon over book, says ex-aide 'lost his mind'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted his former chief strategist ahead of the release of a new, unflattering book that paints the president as juvenile and his White House as chaotic.

Trump, in the statement, said that Steve Bannon "has nothing to do with me or my Presidency" and charges that: "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."

"Steve doesn't represent my base_he's only in it for himself," Trump says.

The statement comes in response to a new book by writer Michael Wolff that offers a series of explosive revelations, including that Trump never expected to win the 2016 presidential race.

Trump seemed most angry at comments made by Bannon, first reported by The Guardian, which obtained an early copy of the book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

According to The Guardian, Bannon described a Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."